Todd Stepsis introduced as Panthers' new head football coach
12/9/2024 5:54:00 PM | Football
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa --- Todd Stepsis on Monday afternoon was introduced as the 24th head coach of the UNI football team. A transcript of his remarks, plus comments from UNI President Mark Nook, Director of Athletics Megan Franklin and Q&A with members of the media can be read below. Click HERE to watch the full press conference.
THE MODERATOR: It is now my pleasure to introduce the President of the University of Northern Iowa, Mr. Mark Nook.
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PRESIDENT MARK NOOK: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you and to welcome Todd and Angie and Addison and Avery to the University of Northern Iowa, especially to the Cedar Valley. It's great to have all of you here.
It was just eight years and three days ago that Cheryl and I were standing in front of you being introduced as the new President here at the University of Northern Iowa. I know what this feels like, Todd. I know how exciting it is for you and your family.
More importantly I know how welcoming this community is. In the eight years that we've been here, the way they have rolled out the welcome mat for us, treated us like family, helped us become family here in the valley. It really is remarkable what this community, what this university does to welcome the people who work here.
They recognize that you as the head coach here and the role that you play, the role that your family will play here in the valley is very, very important to all of us. There's a strong sense of community here that really reminds me of the small town that I grew up in that is so, so heartfelt and so important to Cheryl and I. Welcome to this community. You're going to really love it here. We all love having you here already.
After an extensive interview process with more than 30 applicants in this pool, I had the opportunity to do some Zoom calls with all of the finalists, to get to know them. The Zoom call with Todd was really exceptional. The way he talked about developing young men, the way he talked about the importance of UNI in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference.
The importance of UNI in this community really set him apart. I was very, very impressed with his credentials, but also with the way that he talked about things that are important to us: values, building young men, helping them grow academically, helping them grow professionally, and helping them grow as human beings.
It's a real pleasure to have Todd joining us.
The other day I was down at the Iowa Business Council meeting. As I walked into that room, which is a group of 20 to 25 of Iowa's CEOs of the largest, most impactful companies in Iowa. Two came charging - I use that word literally - to come up and say, I work out with Todd every day. What a hire you've made. Des Moines is going to miss Todd and Angie a great deal. You guys in the Cedar Valley are so lucky and so blessed.
It was a real testament to have them come over and say what they did about this family.
Finally, the other day I had the opportunity as Todd was on campus to watch him work with the young men of this football program. He threw a football around with a few of them, started to talk with the quarterbacks and wide receiving core.
I don't think he knew I was there, watching the look on the young men's faces as he talked with them, to see them engage with him, to see them interact, then to have them come up afterward and thanking us for bringing Todd here. Meant more than anything else anyone could say to us.
We are extremely impressed with Todd's credentials, and extremely blessed to have Todd and Angie and Addison and Avery join the Panther family.
Please join me in welcoming this incredible family to the Cedar Family and Panther Family.
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MEGAN FRANKLIN: This is an awesome day, Panther Family. We have the opportunity to welcome a head coach for the first time in eight years. I know Coach Lakin is really sorry to give up the newest head coach position in the head coaching room, but today he gets to do it with Todd Stepsis.
First, I want to say some thank you's as we went about an extensive search for the next head coach. I do want to thank President Nook for his support throughout the head coach search process. It gave us an opportunity to talk about what our goals were for UNI football, to find a leader with an intentional culture program for the betterment of the locker room, and a coach pursuing MVFC and national championships.
Thank you to senior staff, head coaches and department heads who continued to lead the department the last couple weeks as I took the time to step away and really focus on the search. I knew the department was in good hands and would continue running full steam ahead at a very exciting time of the year.
I also want to thank Michelle Byers, assistant vice president and director of human resources, and Michael Hager, senior vice president for finance and operations, for their support throughout the search process. There were many conversations over weekends and times of commitment throughout evenings that took them away from their positions, but wanted to help us find the right next head coach.
On a personal note, I'd like to thank Elaine Eshbaugh and her family. She hung out with my William while I needed to work on finding a coach.
I want to thank my dad for flying in from North Carolina and spending time with Will so I could continue the search.
So here we are. I get to introduce to you the 24th head coach at the University of Northern Iowa for football, the next head coach who follows in the footsteps of men who impacted student-athletes' lives across generations, served as ambassador for the athletics department and the University of Northern Iowa. They were wonderful members of the Cedar Valley community.
From the inaugural year of Panther football, the goals for this program haven't changed. They are to win conference championships and to have a locker room of a brotherhood.
In that vein, I set out to find the next head coach. In doing so, I identified attributes important to the head coach role.
First and most importantly, a coach who leads with love in every aspect of the program, Who speaks directly to honoring the student-athlete to whom they are their whole best complete self, Who develops the total student-athlete across academics, athletics, career development and citizenship, A coach who has recruited student-athletes how thrive at the institution because of their fit academically, athletically, character and mental toughness, a coach who has won championships predicated on an intentional culture program, a coach who loves to compete. We know that if you play the best, you get to be the best, a coach who is striving for staff continuity, who builds a family among their staff, a coach who has demonstrated the ability to cultivate football alumni, involvement in fundraising efforts with the football team and for the needs of the department and the university, a leader and colleague among a highly successful head coaches' cohort at UNI.
I then met with the football captains from the team to find out what was important to them in their next head coach. Their feedback was wise beyond their years.
They asked for a mentor of men, someone who knows and cares about everyone on the team, cultivates their love of the game of football, a coach who is approachable, who will talk to them about questions they have and get insight into the game.
They wanted a coaching staff that was consistent and that poured into them for their professional development. They wanted to focus on recovery, strength and conditioning and nutrition, periodization across a long season. They want to play long into the playoffs. They wanted someone that would help them and steward time management and organization.
I'm grateful to Drew Turner and Marcy Lanoue with Collegiate Sports Associates for curating a pool of candidates to exhibited qualities in alignment with the portfolio I described, putting together attributes important to me and the student-athletes.
As President Nook described, we had a variety of candidates. We had over 30 in the pool. I met with 14 over Zoom, six in-person interviews, three finalists. Those candidates ranged in head coaching roles across the NCAA and NAIA, coordinators and assistant coaches across FBS and FCS programs.
They reflected the reputation of the MVFC and the history of UNI football. I met incredible coaches who are making a difference with student-athletes' lives and finding success on the gridiron.
After days of conversations, I returned to the first piece of paper where I handwrote the attributes for the next head coach to help center me on what I was thinking about and deciding. It crystallized to me that I had to focus my decision on the heart of the locker room, the men of UNI football.
I understood then that I had written those attributes because of the coach I had been working with for the last 10 years. There was only one candidate for the head coach in Todd Stepsis.
When Todd and I first met to talk about the opportunity the week after he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back championships, his focus was on the men of the UNI roster and those committed student-athletes. I described the attributes that the captains described in what they were looking for in the next head coach. It spoke to Todd.
When I followed up with him a few days later to ask if he was still interested in continuing the conversation, his first response was that he was committed and thought there was a need to continue thinking about this to pour into the men in the locker room.
Todd speaks to leading men to be their best by providing them with unconditional support during their collegiate careers. He teaches a four-year leadership program in the spring alongside the values and goals of the program with his assistant coaching staff.
Furthermore, Todd is a winner. His experience as a head coach with offense and defensive coordinator experience stood out among the pool of candidates.
In his first coaching position at Otterbein, he coached the top-ranked pass defense in the conference and brought the program to their first winning season in nearly 20 years.
As an assistant coach at Capital University, he was on a staff who were in the NCAA playoffs for three straight years from 2005 to 2007, making it to the quarterfinals in 2006 and 2007.
At Saginaw Valley he was on a staff that was 44-23 winning conference North Division titles and three NCAA playoff berths
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Todd was hired as the defensive coordinator at Drake in 2014 where his defenses led FCS across the years, noting in 2017 the Bulldogs led the league in total defense, pass defense, first downs, and finished second in sacks.
Under Todd's direction, a Bulldog player led the FCS in interception return yardage and finishing second in the nation with eight interceptions.
In 2018, his defense was one of the best in the nation as the Bulldogs ranked ninth nationally in scoring defense, ninth in total defense, sixth in rushing defense, 10th in interceptions, 10th in tackles for loss, and 15th in defensive touchdowns.
It was an exciting day when Todd was named head coach at Drake in 2018. In his first season, 21 student-athletes earned league honors, the second most in the conference. In addition to the Bulldogs recognized for their play in the field, Drake's three selections to the CoSIDA Academic All-America team were the most among NCAA Division I programs.
Two men were first-team All-American, while the second Bulldog was a second team selection. The Bulldogs' two first team selections were tied with the United States Naval Academy for the most first team honorees in the nation.
Todd took over offensive coordinator duties in 2022. His leadership on both sides the ball resulted in the Bulldogs winning back-to-back championships in '23 and '24. Todd was named the '23 and '24 Pioneer League football league coach of the year. He was also named the 2023 AFCA region four coach of the year.
Todd led a team of men through adversity to the historic heights of back-to-back championships. That was not done by wholesale roster changes, but by men in the locker room who believed in themselves, in each other, the head coach, and assistant coaches with grit and determination, values very important to UNI football. That belief we will take pride in at UNI.
Furthermore, Todd as head coach is highly involved with the football program alumni. Football alumni receive frequent emails from the Todd giving them insights into the program. In addition, he's involved with coaching alumni and stewarding their pride in the coaching lineage and tree.
His experience cultivating relationships among alumni, donors and the community are values in the storied history of UNI football. The men who have contributed to the history of UNI football matter to Todd and his leadership of a thriving football program
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Todd is the first head coach, as I've said, in eight years at UNI. He will join a legion the coaches who are writing the history books. I'm thrilled to welcome Todd to the collection of coaches.
It is time. Please help me in introducing Todd Stepsis.
(Applause.)
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TODD STEPSIS: I guess I'm done (smiling). That was amazing. Geesh. Just so you know, that was an amazing speech. I'm going to do everything every single day I can to make you proud.
A couple quick thank you's. Number one, President Nook and Megan. Thanks for believing in us. That means a lot. I'm a big people person as you first get the chance to get to know me. How sincere both of you are, what great people you are.
Megan, how much you care. It is very evident in the 10 years that we've known each other. I mean, the student-athletes matter, the department matters, the institution matters. I'm very grateful to get a chance to work with you again.
My family's here. Two of my children, Zoe and Zander, they live in Ohio so they couldn't make it. Addie and Avery are here. Kind of a big deal for them to miss school, if you know me (smiling). Either has to do with football or you threw up and I saw it. If you're not sick and it's not football, you're at school. Just love seeing your smiling faces.
Then my rock, my wife Angie. Everybody will get a chance to get to know her. She's a lot of fun. She makes sure if my ego gets too big, she'll bring it right back down to earth. She's also good at picking me up off the ground when needed. I wouldn't be here today without Angie.
On the topic of family, I have to thank Drake University and the people that were there. Those boys up there, I care a lot about them. We had a great time those 11 years.
The people up there, the administration, they were special to us. We poured our hearts and souls in that place. We loved them with all of our hearts. That's what we're going to do here, too. That's what we're going to do here, too.
In addition to the people at Drake, the coaching staff, all those accolades, recognitions that we've had in the past, none of that's possible without great people and great coaches. A few of those guys up there, I love you boys and can't wait to work with you again soon.
Let's get right to it. Probably wondering, What's the plan? Where are we going? What's the next step? Thanks to the players that are here, I see a few familiar faces from last week. Thank you, thank you.
I mentioned this a week ago. Change is tough. Adversity strikes. Sometimes it's the easy thing to do to tap out and quit, and you didn't, you're still here, you're still standing, there's still some fight in you. For me that's where it all starts.
Everything that we're going to do here really revolves around one mission and one mindset. How can we create a brotherhood and experience that's going to lead to us becoming champions year after year after year? I hope you all heard me say 'champions'. I didn't say 'championships'.
I'm aware of the expectations of this place, the history that everything that has become of this place. Yes, we're going to strive to win as many championships as we can and go to the playoffs and take this place to places it's never been before.
I'm never going to talk about that kind of stuff. I'm going to talk about developing champions, becoming champions. There's a difference.
Championships are finite, they're a finish line, it's and ending. I want becoming a champion a way of life for our players. You're going to be winners.
We all know what that looks like on the field. It's success. Well, know now what it looks like on the scoreboard. It's being on top. But to me, I want you all to be winners on the field, I want you to be winners in the classroom, I want you to be winners in this community and on this campus. I want you to be champion teammates and champion friends. Then once you leave here, you're going to be champion employees, champion husbands and fathers.
To me, that's where this all starts. How can we create an experience here that's going to be one of the best of your lives? If you had to be asked 20 years from now, would you ever do it again, you would say a thousand percent I would.
To have a belief that your intelligence, your ability, your skill can all be developed through effort. I told you guys to put a reminder in your phone. I'll call out and see if you remember what it was.
We are what we work to become. So, we want to become champions, got to work at it. Want to become great students, got to work at it. Want to become great members of this campus, got to work at it.
Again, we're going to work, get after it. How do you do that? How do you create that brotherhood? How do you create that experience that's going to help us become champions?
It all starts with people. From Ohio, don't hold that against me. A famous coach, Woody Hayes, worked at Ohio State for a long time. Had a famous quote: You win with people. We got to get the right people.
The infrastructure is here, the support is here. The foundation for the great people is here. We just got to continue to bring 'em in. That's all with recruiting.
We're going to try to find our kind of guys. I'm going to call them the UNI Guy. You have a talent, the Panther talent. You're going to have speed, physicality, intelligence. You're going to fit in our scheme. But more importantly, you're going to have the Panther spirit. You're going to have passion for football. Something that you're going to look forward to every single day, to be part of a team and part of a sport that you love.
You're going to have contagious energy. We have to find people that are excited and enthusiastic to be here. We're going to have an attitude of a 'get to' versus 'have to'.
I told a funny story about the difference between the two. Have to go to Target with your significant other. Get to go to Target with your significant other. The difference between the two.
We're looking for guys with mental toughness and fight, determined to be the best regardless of the circumstances. Those that are dependable, accountable, and most importantly they have a lot of love to give. They love football, they love UNI, and they love the Cedar Valley. We got to find those guys.
They're not far. So a lot of you boys from Iowa, I've been coaching for 11 years in this state, and some of the most dependable, energetic, enthusiastic, productive players that we've ever coached are from this state. By the time May is over, we're going to blitz it, we're going to make it ours.
I'm realistic. The ones that Iowa and Iowa State really want, maybe we won't get those guys, but we're going to get everybody else. We're going to have a lot of pride in having high school players come play for us.
Once we find those guys, how do we keep 'em? How do we retain all these great players, these UNI guys? First of all, in the recruiting process, they have to want to be here as much as we want them here. Once we figure that out, it really comes down to us as a coaching staff and us as an institution, every single time they walk over to practice, a meeting, whatever it is, it's the best part of their day. That's going to be our focus as a coaching staff. How can we make these next two hours or however long it is the best part of our players' day?
Every single time we can, pour into our players make this an experience they're never going to forget, going to be one of the best of their lives. That's going to be the focus, the mentality. We will be the best part of our players' day.
Okay, we've got the right guys. We've kept them around. Now we got to develop 'em. How are we going to make 'em the best that they can be?
There's a simple phrase that hangs true in our house, applies to every situation in life: Leave it better than you found it. That's going to be the focus. On the surface, yeah, we're going to push chairs in, clean up after ourselves. When we're a visiting team, we're going to make sure that locker room looks great.
As a coaching staff, that's why we get into coaching. We want to make an impact, be part of a four-year journey where we bring in a freshman who is 18 years old, makes that beautiful transformation to when he's 22 years old. We felt like we've left him better than we found him. He's going to take that attitude; he's going to apply that to everywhere he goes. Over time we're going to make this world a better place.
The ultimate goal, we found the guys, we kept them around, we developed 'em into champions. There's going to graduate here with a degree. We're going to have standards. There's no half-ass in this thing. We are going to be all in on everything that we do. Our players are going to graduate with a UNI degree.
You know what? We have a bunch of guys that have NFL aspirations, and I'm happy about that. In fact, I'm going to do everything we can to make sure that those dreams come true. But that life doesn't last forever. Football is a special sport. When it's over, it's over. Sometimes it ends before you want it to end.
For me, I was fortunate enough to play four years in college. Best time of my life. But after that senior year, look at me. I'm not an imposing figure here. I don't have an NFL frame going. I was told my time was done.
So that's going to happen for every single one of our players. Hopefully it's not because of injury or anything like that. There will be a point in time where you will be told that football is no longer in the cards, and you need to figure out what else to do.
That's up to us to make sure that you have a plan. So, all that passion that you have for football, how can we find the next thing where you can pour just as much energy into that? How can you continue to have that fight with your new occupation or your new journey with your family? How can you love it just as much as you love this place?
So that's the plan. We've got a long way to go. Got a lot of work to do.
I'm not a guarantee guy. Again, I'm not going to guarantee wins or championships or anything like that right away. The one thing I'm going to guarantee is that Panther Nation is going to be really proud of us when they watch us on that field. We're going to do everything we can to make that happen.
I can talk about offense and defense and we-fense for days. I'll leave that maybe for some other questions.
I guess the final thank you is for everybody that's here, for you to show up. It really means a lot to us, our family. I definitely feel the love and I can't wait to show it back.
Thanks.
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THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. We'll open it up for questions.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: Yeah, that's a loaded question (smiling).
My philosophy, I'm pretty much on record on this, I'm not a huge fan of the transfer portal. I think it was created with good intentions but has kind of opened up Pandora's box as far as what the result is because of it. This year's a little different. We're looking at our roster right now to see did we lose any key pieces, replace them with some more veteran guys. This year's a little bit different. At the end of the day, I didn't get into this profession for championships and wins. I got in this profession because of what it means for the 18- to 22-year-olds. We're really going to hammer high school. We're going to make sure we find our kind of guys. The transfer portal for me this year might have a little bit more of a role than in the future years. We're going to build our program with high school players.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: Yeah, it will be a mix of both, okay? We've got a few coaches that we've retained, Coach Nelly, Coach Q, Coach Van Wyhe. Those are three guys that just in conversations not only with current coaches and the team, three guys that really care about this place.
I don't know if I'm going to put Coach Nelly on the spot, but talking to him, he just said, If I had to take out the trash and mop the floors, if I get to coach these kids, be a part of the program, I'm in.
That's the type of guy he is, the type of guys those three guys are.
We had some other conversations with some other coaches on staff that we wanted to retain, as well. I told every single one of them they've done a phenomenal job of keeping the band together. I mean, I felt an engaged group on Tuesday night when we met with the team. All those recruits that signed on Wednesday, man, they were all in. There were some coaches on staff that declined to stay on, and that's okay. We've got quite a few guys coming from Drake that have just poured their heart and soul into our program, and will do the exact same thing here. They worked so hard. They deserve an opportunity to be at a place like this. Incredible tradition and a place where football really matters.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: That's a great question. I think the focus needs to remain the same, okay? We need to scour for that talent and spirit we're looking for. We have to find those guys that really want to be here, and those are the ones we've got to go after.
In the past it's been kind of heartbreaking because we found those players that had the talent and have the attitude that we want, just haven't been able to afford to go to school where we were.
To have the ability to now give an opportunity to a player that maybe wouldn't have it because they believe in what we're doing and what we are here, that's really exciting for me to be able to have a way to bring everybody into UNI that wants to be at UNI.
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Q. How would you describe your brand of football? How do you think you may or may not need to adjust to compete in the Missouri Valley Football Conference?
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TODD STEPSIS: Well, I could talk ball for days. I hope I don't ramble on with this answer. I'll try to keep it sweet.
So I'm very familiar with the Dakota schools. Got my teeth kicked in a number of times by those guys. Pretty excited to even the playing field a little bit and maybe return the favor.
Our style of ball is really going to revolve around who we have first, then what can we do with them to make them successful. It becomes, number one, we have to become familiar with the roster on our team, what do they do well, find our best players on offense, who are our best players, how do we get them the ball?
Concepts, things like that, those are going to stay pretty true. We have to make sure we put the right guys in the right spots and make sure they get the right touches and the right targets.
We're simple on the surface, but then really complex as you watch us.
I use this analogy, and it got misconstrued a little bit in our playoff game. My wife, she gave me some crap the other day about it.
We talk about our offense. When you go to a party and you have a significant other, a lot of times that significant other wants to go shopping, okay? We want to make sure that we got a nice outfit for that whatever we're going to. Well, it's the same good-looking woman that's going with you. Probably about, I don't know, a dozen or so outfits that look just as good on her, but she's been in pictures in those outfits. On our offense, we want to make sure that that picture changes every single week. So it's the same beautiful offense, it's the same concepts, but we're going to change the picture for people.
Defensively we're going to defend every blade of grass or turf, depending on what the surface is out there. We're going to suffocate people. We're going to be really aggressive. We have had phenomenal defenses the past five years that have really shut people down.
Defense is more attitude. Offense is a little bit more schematic, where defense is more attitude. I know for a fact that our defensive players are going to buy into what we're doing, they are going to play at a high level and play with great fundamentals.
A lot of people don't talk about special teams. It called we-fense, not offense, defense. Both sides working together, a unit that impacts the team. Making sure that unit gets the time that deserves to be elite.
I think with all three of those phases, the competition is going to be stiff. There's some elite teams in our conference. It's the best conference in the country. But I do believe what we'll do and more importantly how we'll do it will allow us to compete with them.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: Wow, that is a question. So I guess, number one, I've never had a 5-year plan, 10-year plan, 15-year plan. I've always been a day-to-day guy, be great where your feet are.
Fortunately, I've never really had to go after a job; I've always been happy with where I am. So why UNI? Well, anybody on the surface, anybody that knows college football, shoot, do you know about UNI, that place is amazing, football matters there, they have a rich tradition. You just go on and on and on about the positives of UNI.
Why now? Actually, so my 11-year-old Addie, the decision wasn't a no-brainer for us house how much we had poured into Drake and how much that place and that community really meant to us. But she looked at me Monday night and she said, Dad, when we walked around that place the other night, that place was really cool. The people we met there were really nice. It feels like they need us there. It feels like God wants us there and we should go. We'll be fine. We moved from Michigan to Iowa and it worked out pretty good, so we'll go there and it will be great.
Why not? That was a big reason, beyond all the awesome stuff about this place obviously, so...
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Q. You look at the quarterfinals FCS playoffs right now, three Dakota schools with a lot of Iowans. How do you close the borders and keep the Iowa kids here for the Panthers?
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TODD STEPSIS: We have a plan. We have a lot of good coaches a lot of good recruiters. They're locked and loaded. Number one, as a parent of two girls that play all the sports, my wife snickers because she's like they play all the sports and who is in charge of getting them there or organizing it? She works down there in Des Moines, as well.
Some of the best times in my life right now are watching them play on the third baseline, watching Avery pitch or Addie slap bunt or try, whatever. I love that.
So, I think that's where we got to start, is, man, you're from this state, your parents are going to see you play. How much easier will it be if you're closer by? Then we can start selling the program, the history and the tradition, what we're going to do with them, how we're going to develop them into becoming a champion and a winner. This is the place to be for you. There's no other place than right here and right now.
I think we got to work really hard and get into all the schools and turn over all the stones in this state. We have to put all of our barrels pointed at the state. There are some good states, some areas that have been solid for our team in the past, but the focus has to be here.
I think when you give it the attention and the work that it deserves, we're going to reap the benefits.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: It was night (smiling). I drive up, not really sure how to get in. I remember where we went a couple days before, but... Found one of the basketball coaches, flagged her down. She let me in. Kind of waltzed in there, they got a picture on the jumbo board. Just kept thinking, Man, my face looks really big on that thing. There it is.
Again, one of the things that excites us the most about this place and this team is they've been through tough times. Losing nine games, that's not easy. It's not easy for anybody involved. But they're still here. I'm telling you, that's a skill in life that is starting to go away: the ability to handle difficult times. The guys on the team, they have. They felt it. They didn't like it. They're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's what I love to be a part of. That's what we can't wait to get started with.
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THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
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THE MODERATOR: It is now my pleasure to introduce the President of the University of Northern Iowa, Mr. Mark Nook.
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It was just eight years and three days ago that Cheryl and I were standing in front of you being introduced as the new President here at the University of Northern Iowa. I know what this feels like, Todd. I know how exciting it is for you and your family.
More importantly I know how welcoming this community is. In the eight years that we've been here, the way they have rolled out the welcome mat for us, treated us like family, helped us become family here in the valley. It really is remarkable what this community, what this university does to welcome the people who work here.
They recognize that you as the head coach here and the role that you play, the role that your family will play here in the valley is very, very important to all of us. There's a strong sense of community here that really reminds me of the small town that I grew up in that is so, so heartfelt and so important to Cheryl and I. Welcome to this community. You're going to really love it here. We all love having you here already.
After an extensive interview process with more than 30 applicants in this pool, I had the opportunity to do some Zoom calls with all of the finalists, to get to know them. The Zoom call with Todd was really exceptional. The way he talked about developing young men, the way he talked about the importance of UNI in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference.
The importance of UNI in this community really set him apart. I was very, very impressed with his credentials, but also with the way that he talked about things that are important to us: values, building young men, helping them grow academically, helping them grow professionally, and helping them grow as human beings.
It's a real pleasure to have Todd joining us.
The other day I was down at the Iowa Business Council meeting. As I walked into that room, which is a group of 20 to 25 of Iowa's CEOs of the largest, most impactful companies in Iowa. Two came charging - I use that word literally - to come up and say, I work out with Todd every day. What a hire you've made. Des Moines is going to miss Todd and Angie a great deal. You guys in the Cedar Valley are so lucky and so blessed.
It was a real testament to have them come over and say what they did about this family.
Finally, the other day I had the opportunity as Todd was on campus to watch him work with the young men of this football program. He threw a football around with a few of them, started to talk with the quarterbacks and wide receiving core.
I don't think he knew I was there, watching the look on the young men's faces as he talked with them, to see them engage with him, to see them interact, then to have them come up afterward and thanking us for bringing Todd here. Meant more than anything else anyone could say to us.
We are extremely impressed with Todd's credentials, and extremely blessed to have Todd and Angie and Addison and Avery join the Panther family.
Please join me in welcoming this incredible family to the Cedar Family and Panther Family.
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MEGAN FRANKLIN: This is an awesome day, Panther Family. We have the opportunity to welcome a head coach for the first time in eight years. I know Coach Lakin is really sorry to give up the newest head coach position in the head coaching room, but today he gets to do it with Todd Stepsis.
First, I want to say some thank you's as we went about an extensive search for the next head coach. I do want to thank President Nook for his support throughout the head coach search process. It gave us an opportunity to talk about what our goals were for UNI football, to find a leader with an intentional culture program for the betterment of the locker room, and a coach pursuing MVFC and national championships.
Thank you to senior staff, head coaches and department heads who continued to lead the department the last couple weeks as I took the time to step away and really focus on the search. I knew the department was in good hands and would continue running full steam ahead at a very exciting time of the year.
I also want to thank Michelle Byers, assistant vice president and director of human resources, and Michael Hager, senior vice president for finance and operations, for their support throughout the search process. There were many conversations over weekends and times of commitment throughout evenings that took them away from their positions, but wanted to help us find the right next head coach.
On a personal note, I'd like to thank Elaine Eshbaugh and her family. She hung out with my William while I needed to work on finding a coach.
I want to thank my dad for flying in from North Carolina and spending time with Will so I could continue the search.
So here we are. I get to introduce to you the 24th head coach at the University of Northern Iowa for football, the next head coach who follows in the footsteps of men who impacted student-athletes' lives across generations, served as ambassador for the athletics department and the University of Northern Iowa. They were wonderful members of the Cedar Valley community.
From the inaugural year of Panther football, the goals for this program haven't changed. They are to win conference championships and to have a locker room of a brotherhood.
In that vein, I set out to find the next head coach. In doing so, I identified attributes important to the head coach role.
First and most importantly, a coach who leads with love in every aspect of the program, Who speaks directly to honoring the student-athlete to whom they are their whole best complete self, Who develops the total student-athlete across academics, athletics, career development and citizenship, A coach who has recruited student-athletes how thrive at the institution because of their fit academically, athletically, character and mental toughness, a coach who has won championships predicated on an intentional culture program, a coach who loves to compete. We know that if you play the best, you get to be the best, a coach who is striving for staff continuity, who builds a family among their staff, a coach who has demonstrated the ability to cultivate football alumni, involvement in fundraising efforts with the football team and for the needs of the department and the university, a leader and colleague among a highly successful head coaches' cohort at UNI.
I then met with the football captains from the team to find out what was important to them in their next head coach. Their feedback was wise beyond their years.
They asked for a mentor of men, someone who knows and cares about everyone on the team, cultivates their love of the game of football, a coach who is approachable, who will talk to them about questions they have and get insight into the game.
They wanted a coaching staff that was consistent and that poured into them for their professional development. They wanted to focus on recovery, strength and conditioning and nutrition, periodization across a long season. They want to play long into the playoffs. They wanted someone that would help them and steward time management and organization.
I'm grateful to Drew Turner and Marcy Lanoue with Collegiate Sports Associates for curating a pool of candidates to exhibited qualities in alignment with the portfolio I described, putting together attributes important to me and the student-athletes.
As President Nook described, we had a variety of candidates. We had over 30 in the pool. I met with 14 over Zoom, six in-person interviews, three finalists. Those candidates ranged in head coaching roles across the NCAA and NAIA, coordinators and assistant coaches across FBS and FCS programs.
They reflected the reputation of the MVFC and the history of UNI football. I met incredible coaches who are making a difference with student-athletes' lives and finding success on the gridiron.
After days of conversations, I returned to the first piece of paper where I handwrote the attributes for the next head coach to help center me on what I was thinking about and deciding. It crystallized to me that I had to focus my decision on the heart of the locker room, the men of UNI football.
I understood then that I had written those attributes because of the coach I had been working with for the last 10 years. There was only one candidate for the head coach in Todd Stepsis.
When Todd and I first met to talk about the opportunity the week after he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back championships, his focus was on the men of the UNI roster and those committed student-athletes. I described the attributes that the captains described in what they were looking for in the next head coach. It spoke to Todd.
When I followed up with him a few days later to ask if he was still interested in continuing the conversation, his first response was that he was committed and thought there was a need to continue thinking about this to pour into the men in the locker room.
Todd speaks to leading men to be their best by providing them with unconditional support during their collegiate careers. He teaches a four-year leadership program in the spring alongside the values and goals of the program with his assistant coaching staff.
Furthermore, Todd is a winner. His experience as a head coach with offense and defensive coordinator experience stood out among the pool of candidates.
In his first coaching position at Otterbein, he coached the top-ranked pass defense in the conference and brought the program to their first winning season in nearly 20 years.
As an assistant coach at Capital University, he was on a staff who were in the NCAA playoffs for three straight years from 2005 to 2007, making it to the quarterfinals in 2006 and 2007.
At Saginaw Valley he was on a staff that was 44-23 winning conference North Division titles and three NCAA playoff berths
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Todd was hired as the defensive coordinator at Drake in 2014 where his defenses led FCS across the years, noting in 2017 the Bulldogs led the league in total defense, pass defense, first downs, and finished second in sacks.
Under Todd's direction, a Bulldog player led the FCS in interception return yardage and finishing second in the nation with eight interceptions.
In 2018, his defense was one of the best in the nation as the Bulldogs ranked ninth nationally in scoring defense, ninth in total defense, sixth in rushing defense, 10th in interceptions, 10th in tackles for loss, and 15th in defensive touchdowns.
It was an exciting day when Todd was named head coach at Drake in 2018. In his first season, 21 student-athletes earned league honors, the second most in the conference. In addition to the Bulldogs recognized for their play in the field, Drake's three selections to the CoSIDA Academic All-America team were the most among NCAA Division I programs.
Two men were first-team All-American, while the second Bulldog was a second team selection. The Bulldogs' two first team selections were tied with the United States Naval Academy for the most first team honorees in the nation.
Todd took over offensive coordinator duties in 2022. His leadership on both sides the ball resulted in the Bulldogs winning back-to-back championships in '23 and '24. Todd was named the '23 and '24 Pioneer League football league coach of the year. He was also named the 2023 AFCA region four coach of the year.
Todd led a team of men through adversity to the historic heights of back-to-back championships. That was not done by wholesale roster changes, but by men in the locker room who believed in themselves, in each other, the head coach, and assistant coaches with grit and determination, values very important to UNI football. That belief we will take pride in at UNI.
Furthermore, Todd as head coach is highly involved with the football program alumni. Football alumni receive frequent emails from the Todd giving them insights into the program. In addition, he's involved with coaching alumni and stewarding their pride in the coaching lineage and tree.
His experience cultivating relationships among alumni, donors and the community are values in the storied history of UNI football. The men who have contributed to the history of UNI football matter to Todd and his leadership of a thriving football program
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Todd is the first head coach, as I've said, in eight years at UNI. He will join a legion the coaches who are writing the history books. I'm thrilled to welcome Todd to the collection of coaches.
It is time. Please help me in introducing Todd Stepsis.
(Applause.)
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TODD STEPSIS: I guess I'm done (smiling). That was amazing. Geesh. Just so you know, that was an amazing speech. I'm going to do everything every single day I can to make you proud.
A couple quick thank you's. Number one, President Nook and Megan. Thanks for believing in us. That means a lot. I'm a big people person as you first get the chance to get to know me. How sincere both of you are, what great people you are.

Megan, how much you care. It is very evident in the 10 years that we've known each other. I mean, the student-athletes matter, the department matters, the institution matters. I'm very grateful to get a chance to work with you again.
My family's here. Two of my children, Zoe and Zander, they live in Ohio so they couldn't make it. Addie and Avery are here. Kind of a big deal for them to miss school, if you know me (smiling). Either has to do with football or you threw up and I saw it. If you're not sick and it's not football, you're at school. Just love seeing your smiling faces.
Then my rock, my wife Angie. Everybody will get a chance to get to know her. She's a lot of fun. She makes sure if my ego gets too big, she'll bring it right back down to earth. She's also good at picking me up off the ground when needed. I wouldn't be here today without Angie.
On the topic of family, I have to thank Drake University and the people that were there. Those boys up there, I care a lot about them. We had a great time those 11 years.
The people up there, the administration, they were special to us. We poured our hearts and souls in that place. We loved them with all of our hearts. That's what we're going to do here, too. That's what we're going to do here, too.
In addition to the people at Drake, the coaching staff, all those accolades, recognitions that we've had in the past, none of that's possible without great people and great coaches. A few of those guys up there, I love you boys and can't wait to work with you again soon.
Let's get right to it. Probably wondering, What's the plan? Where are we going? What's the next step? Thanks to the players that are here, I see a few familiar faces from last week. Thank you, thank you.
I mentioned this a week ago. Change is tough. Adversity strikes. Sometimes it's the easy thing to do to tap out and quit, and you didn't, you're still here, you're still standing, there's still some fight in you. For me that's where it all starts.
Everything that we're going to do here really revolves around one mission and one mindset. How can we create a brotherhood and experience that's going to lead to us becoming champions year after year after year? I hope you all heard me say 'champions'. I didn't say 'championships'.
I'm aware of the expectations of this place, the history that everything that has become of this place. Yes, we're going to strive to win as many championships as we can and go to the playoffs and take this place to places it's never been before.
I'm never going to talk about that kind of stuff. I'm going to talk about developing champions, becoming champions. There's a difference.
Championships are finite, they're a finish line, it's and ending. I want becoming a champion a way of life for our players. You're going to be winners.
We all know what that looks like on the field. It's success. Well, know now what it looks like on the scoreboard. It's being on top. But to me, I want you all to be winners on the field, I want you to be winners in the classroom, I want you to be winners in this community and on this campus. I want you to be champion teammates and champion friends. Then once you leave here, you're going to be champion employees, champion husbands and fathers.
To me, that's where this all starts. How can we create an experience here that's going to be one of the best of your lives? If you had to be asked 20 years from now, would you ever do it again, you would say a thousand percent I would.
To have a belief that your intelligence, your ability, your skill can all be developed through effort. I told you guys to put a reminder in your phone. I'll call out and see if you remember what it was.
We are what we work to become. So, we want to become champions, got to work at it. Want to become great students, got to work at it. Want to become great members of this campus, got to work at it.
Again, we're going to work, get after it. How do you do that? How do you create that brotherhood? How do you create that experience that's going to help us become champions?
It all starts with people. From Ohio, don't hold that against me. A famous coach, Woody Hayes, worked at Ohio State for a long time. Had a famous quote: You win with people. We got to get the right people.
The infrastructure is here, the support is here. The foundation for the great people is here. We just got to continue to bring 'em in. That's all with recruiting.
We're going to try to find our kind of guys. I'm going to call them the UNI Guy. You have a talent, the Panther talent. You're going to have speed, physicality, intelligence. You're going to fit in our scheme. But more importantly, you're going to have the Panther spirit. You're going to have passion for football. Something that you're going to look forward to every single day, to be part of a team and part of a sport that you love.
You're going to have contagious energy. We have to find people that are excited and enthusiastic to be here. We're going to have an attitude of a 'get to' versus 'have to'.
I told a funny story about the difference between the two. Have to go to Target with your significant other. Get to go to Target with your significant other. The difference between the two.
We're looking for guys with mental toughness and fight, determined to be the best regardless of the circumstances. Those that are dependable, accountable, and most importantly they have a lot of love to give. They love football, they love UNI, and they love the Cedar Valley. We got to find those guys.
They're not far. So a lot of you boys from Iowa, I've been coaching for 11 years in this state, and some of the most dependable, energetic, enthusiastic, productive players that we've ever coached are from this state. By the time May is over, we're going to blitz it, we're going to make it ours.
I'm realistic. The ones that Iowa and Iowa State really want, maybe we won't get those guys, but we're going to get everybody else. We're going to have a lot of pride in having high school players come play for us.
Once we find those guys, how do we keep 'em? How do we retain all these great players, these UNI guys? First of all, in the recruiting process, they have to want to be here as much as we want them here. Once we figure that out, it really comes down to us as a coaching staff and us as an institution, every single time they walk over to practice, a meeting, whatever it is, it's the best part of their day. That's going to be our focus as a coaching staff. How can we make these next two hours or however long it is the best part of our players' day?
Every single time we can, pour into our players make this an experience they're never going to forget, going to be one of the best of their lives. That's going to be the focus, the mentality. We will be the best part of our players' day.
Okay, we've got the right guys. We've kept them around. Now we got to develop 'em. How are we going to make 'em the best that they can be?
There's a simple phrase that hangs true in our house, applies to every situation in life: Leave it better than you found it. That's going to be the focus. On the surface, yeah, we're going to push chairs in, clean up after ourselves. When we're a visiting team, we're going to make sure that locker room looks great.
As a coaching staff, that's why we get into coaching. We want to make an impact, be part of a four-year journey where we bring in a freshman who is 18 years old, makes that beautiful transformation to when he's 22 years old. We felt like we've left him better than we found him. He's going to take that attitude; he's going to apply that to everywhere he goes. Over time we're going to make this world a better place.
The ultimate goal, we found the guys, we kept them around, we developed 'em into champions. There's going to graduate here with a degree. We're going to have standards. There's no half-ass in this thing. We are going to be all in on everything that we do. Our players are going to graduate with a UNI degree.
You know what? We have a bunch of guys that have NFL aspirations, and I'm happy about that. In fact, I'm going to do everything we can to make sure that those dreams come true. But that life doesn't last forever. Football is a special sport. When it's over, it's over. Sometimes it ends before you want it to end.
For me, I was fortunate enough to play four years in college. Best time of my life. But after that senior year, look at me. I'm not an imposing figure here. I don't have an NFL frame going. I was told my time was done.
So that's going to happen for every single one of our players. Hopefully it's not because of injury or anything like that. There will be a point in time where you will be told that football is no longer in the cards, and you need to figure out what else to do.
That's up to us to make sure that you have a plan. So, all that passion that you have for football, how can we find the next thing where you can pour just as much energy into that? How can you continue to have that fight with your new occupation or your new journey with your family? How can you love it just as much as you love this place?
So that's the plan. We've got a long way to go. Got a lot of work to do.
I'm not a guarantee guy. Again, I'm not going to guarantee wins or championships or anything like that right away. The one thing I'm going to guarantee is that Panther Nation is going to be really proud of us when they watch us on that field. We're going to do everything we can to make that happen.
I can talk about offense and defense and we-fense for days. I'll leave that maybe for some other questions.
I guess the final thank you is for everybody that's here, for you to show up. It really means a lot to us, our family. I definitely feel the love and I can't wait to show it back.
Thanks.
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THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. We'll open it up for questions.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: Yeah, that's a loaded question (smiling).
My philosophy, I'm pretty much on record on this, I'm not a huge fan of the transfer portal. I think it was created with good intentions but has kind of opened up Pandora's box as far as what the result is because of it. This year's a little different. We're looking at our roster right now to see did we lose any key pieces, replace them with some more veteran guys. This year's a little bit different. At the end of the day, I didn't get into this profession for championships and wins. I got in this profession because of what it means for the 18- to 22-year-olds. We're really going to hammer high school. We're going to make sure we find our kind of guys. The transfer portal for me this year might have a little bit more of a role than in the future years. We're going to build our program with high school players.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: Yeah, it will be a mix of both, okay? We've got a few coaches that we've retained, Coach Nelly, Coach Q, Coach Van Wyhe. Those are three guys that just in conversations not only with current coaches and the team, three guys that really care about this place.
I don't know if I'm going to put Coach Nelly on the spot, but talking to him, he just said, If I had to take out the trash and mop the floors, if I get to coach these kids, be a part of the program, I'm in.
That's the type of guy he is, the type of guys those three guys are.
We had some other conversations with some other coaches on staff that we wanted to retain, as well. I told every single one of them they've done a phenomenal job of keeping the band together. I mean, I felt an engaged group on Tuesday night when we met with the team. All those recruits that signed on Wednesday, man, they were all in. There were some coaches on staff that declined to stay on, and that's okay. We've got quite a few guys coming from Drake that have just poured their heart and soul into our program, and will do the exact same thing here. They worked so hard. They deserve an opportunity to be at a place like this. Incredible tradition and a place where football really matters.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: That's a great question. I think the focus needs to remain the same, okay? We need to scour for that talent and spirit we're looking for. We have to find those guys that really want to be here, and those are the ones we've got to go after.
In the past it's been kind of heartbreaking because we found those players that had the talent and have the attitude that we want, just haven't been able to afford to go to school where we were.
To have the ability to now give an opportunity to a player that maybe wouldn't have it because they believe in what we're doing and what we are here, that's really exciting for me to be able to have a way to bring everybody into UNI that wants to be at UNI.
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Q. How would you describe your brand of football? How do you think you may or may not need to adjust to compete in the Missouri Valley Football Conference?
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TODD STEPSIS: Well, I could talk ball for days. I hope I don't ramble on with this answer. I'll try to keep it sweet.
So I'm very familiar with the Dakota schools. Got my teeth kicked in a number of times by those guys. Pretty excited to even the playing field a little bit and maybe return the favor.
Our style of ball is really going to revolve around who we have first, then what can we do with them to make them successful. It becomes, number one, we have to become familiar with the roster on our team, what do they do well, find our best players on offense, who are our best players, how do we get them the ball?
Concepts, things like that, those are going to stay pretty true. We have to make sure we put the right guys in the right spots and make sure they get the right touches and the right targets.
We're simple on the surface, but then really complex as you watch us.
I use this analogy, and it got misconstrued a little bit in our playoff game. My wife, she gave me some crap the other day about it.
We talk about our offense. When you go to a party and you have a significant other, a lot of times that significant other wants to go shopping, okay? We want to make sure that we got a nice outfit for that whatever we're going to. Well, it's the same good-looking woman that's going with you. Probably about, I don't know, a dozen or so outfits that look just as good on her, but she's been in pictures in those outfits. On our offense, we want to make sure that that picture changes every single week. So it's the same beautiful offense, it's the same concepts, but we're going to change the picture for people.
Defensively we're going to defend every blade of grass or turf, depending on what the surface is out there. We're going to suffocate people. We're going to be really aggressive. We have had phenomenal defenses the past five years that have really shut people down.
Defense is more attitude. Offense is a little bit more schematic, where defense is more attitude. I know for a fact that our defensive players are going to buy into what we're doing, they are going to play at a high level and play with great fundamentals.
A lot of people don't talk about special teams. It called we-fense, not offense, defense. Both sides working together, a unit that impacts the team. Making sure that unit gets the time that deserves to be elite.
I think with all three of those phases, the competition is going to be stiff. There's some elite teams in our conference. It's the best conference in the country. But I do believe what we'll do and more importantly how we'll do it will allow us to compete with them.
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TODD STEPSIS: Wow, that is a question. So I guess, number one, I've never had a 5-year plan, 10-year plan, 15-year plan. I've always been a day-to-day guy, be great where your feet are.
Fortunately, I've never really had to go after a job; I've always been happy with where I am. So why UNI? Well, anybody on the surface, anybody that knows college football, shoot, do you know about UNI, that place is amazing, football matters there, they have a rich tradition. You just go on and on and on about the positives of UNI.
Why now? Actually, so my 11-year-old Addie, the decision wasn't a no-brainer for us house how much we had poured into Drake and how much that place and that community really meant to us. But she looked at me Monday night and she said, Dad, when we walked around that place the other night, that place was really cool. The people we met there were really nice. It feels like they need us there. It feels like God wants us there and we should go. We'll be fine. We moved from Michigan to Iowa and it worked out pretty good, so we'll go there and it will be great.
Why not? That was a big reason, beyond all the awesome stuff about this place obviously, so...
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Q. You look at the quarterfinals FCS playoffs right now, three Dakota schools with a lot of Iowans. How do you close the borders and keep the Iowa kids here for the Panthers?
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TODD STEPSIS: We have a plan. We have a lot of good coaches a lot of good recruiters. They're locked and loaded. Number one, as a parent of two girls that play all the sports, my wife snickers because she's like they play all the sports and who is in charge of getting them there or organizing it? She works down there in Des Moines, as well.
Some of the best times in my life right now are watching them play on the third baseline, watching Avery pitch or Addie slap bunt or try, whatever. I love that.
So, I think that's where we got to start, is, man, you're from this state, your parents are going to see you play. How much easier will it be if you're closer by? Then we can start selling the program, the history and the tradition, what we're going to do with them, how we're going to develop them into becoming a champion and a winner. This is the place to be for you. There's no other place than right here and right now.
I think we got to work really hard and get into all the schools and turn over all the stones in this state. We have to put all of our barrels pointed at the state. There are some good states, some areas that have been solid for our team in the past, but the focus has to be here.
I think when you give it the attention and the work that it deserves, we're going to reap the benefits.
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Q. (No microphone.)
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TODD STEPSIS: It was night (smiling). I drive up, not really sure how to get in. I remember where we went a couple days before, but... Found one of the basketball coaches, flagged her down. She let me in. Kind of waltzed in there, they got a picture on the jumbo board. Just kept thinking, Man, my face looks really big on that thing. There it is.
Again, one of the things that excites us the most about this place and this team is they've been through tough times. Losing nine games, that's not easy. It's not easy for anybody involved. But they're still here. I'm telling you, that's a skill in life that is starting to go away: the ability to handle difficult times. The guys on the team, they have. They felt it. They didn't like it. They're willing to do whatever it takes to make sure it doesn't happen again. That's what I love to be a part of. That's what we can't wait to get started with.
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THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
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UNI football action can be followed all season long on social media on Facebook (UNI Football), X (@UNIFootball) and on Instagram (@unipantherfootball). The full 2024 schedule and roster, along with the latest Panther news and information can be found online at UNIpanthers.com.
PST: Todd Stepsis - Sept. 5, 2025 (Part 1 of 3)
Friday, September 05
PST: Todd Stepsis - Sept. 5, 2025 (Part 2 of 3)
Friday, September 05
PST: Todd Stepsis - Sept. 5, 2025 (Part 3 of 3)
Friday, September 05
PST: Jonathan Cabral-Martin (2025)
Friday, September 05